


Twitterpated

by Motherbirdnerd



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: District 12, F/M, Thelly, eraser room, merchant, seam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-14
Updated: 2013-03-14
Packaged: 2017-12-05 06:20:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/719846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Motherbirdnerd/pseuds/Motherbirdnerd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peeta Mellark learns he is not the only person in District 12 with Seam Fever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Twitterpated

**Author's Note:**

  * For [feeding_geese](https://archiveofourown.org/users/feeding_geese/gifts).



    The sun was shining, the mockingjays were singing and the grass sprouting; verdant shocks of life that burst through the last stubborn pieces of snow that clung to the ground. Yes, District 12 was experiencing its first full day of spring, or rather, more interestingly, its first full day of Seam Fever.

     Originally called 'spring fever', the term explained the inexplicable rise of romantic fervor and unwarranted happiness that occurred when the season changed for the favorable at the end of a bitter winter. The term 'Seam Fever' began to catch on when the mothers began to bear children born fair skinned and raven haired, blue eyed and brown.

      These children were a mixed breed, belonging neither to the Seam nor the Merchant. This presented a special sort of problem for 12, which had always had a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy when it came to matters such as these. That was not to say, however that it was a new occurrence to see a Merchant boy sneaking off into the sanctuary of the slag heap clutching the trembling hand of a quiet Seam girl.

    But it became a problem when the problem could not be quietly swept under the rug and denied like the illegal transactions at the Hob, or the girl who came to their backdoors every few days offering fresh game for trade. As long and as far back as anyone could remember in 12, there had always been an ugly jagged split down the District, separating the two classes, although if you asked anyone they could not tell you how it came to be or even why it mattered all that much. That was just the way it had always been, they would reply, and that's the way it should stay.

      So it was still a pretty big deal in the town when an affair was revealed. For both classes it was a considered a disgrace on your family and yourself to be found cavorting with the other class, but it carried more penalty for the Merchants. A confirmed rendezvous, even a rumor could mean a significant loss in business and with the already perilous nature of their home's economy. None could chance the loss.

    It was this simple fact that began Peeta Mellark's involvement in the amorous meetings of his best friend Delly Cartwright and her beau from the Seam, Thom Sloane. It all started on a Tuesday when his teacher ran out of chalk and Peeta's hand shot up to retrieve it from the supply closet eagerly. It was not that he liked running errands; he was by no stretch of the imagination a teacher's pet, rather liking to stay quiet and unnoticed.

    He volunteered because the nearest supply closet passed Mr. Selig's Industrial History classroom which held one Katniss Everdeen. Katniss Everdeen, who sat right next to the door and didn't have any classes with him this semester besides lunch. He cursed himself as he slowed, creeping past the door to observe her. She was tapping the lead end of her pencil idly, her other hand supporting her chin. Her face held a predictable expression of boredom. This was getting ridiculous, he thought as he rounded the corner, _this_ _year I'm definitely going to talk to her._ _This is_ just _pathetic._

   He came to the closet, flinging the door open in frustration as he called himself an idiot out loud. That's when he saw an image that he immediately wanted to erase from his memory forever: his best friend, practically his sister, Delly pinned up between a dusty rack of erasers and a tall Seam guy with mussed hair and ropey muscles. Her skirt was hiked up, exposing a creamy expanse of thigh and his brown hands disappeared underneath the plain blue material, no doubt groping and grabbing onto body parts he didn't want to admit his best friend possessed. His image of Delly was purely that of a sister; protective, prying, at times annoying. He did not _ever_   imagine that she was a thing to be desired and kissed. The mere introduction of the thought to his brain caused a wave of discomfort to settle in the pit of his belly.

   She stared at him in stunned shock, swollen lipped and heavy breath. They all three stared at each other for a moment, lost for words before Delly untangled herself from her lover and began to speak.

"Peeta, this is Thom---"

"Hey Thom. I just came for chalk. Mrs. Park ran out." He stammered, haphazardly grabbing a box off a nearby rack, causing a few errant boxes to fall down in noisy clash, a puff of white smoke raising from the ground.

"Have, fun...um, ok bye..." Delly called out after him but he didn't stop, making a quick beeline for the door, shutting it loudly behind him. He wanted nothing more than to forget the whole encounter, erase it from his mind but luck had never favored Peeta and as it happened, he found himself in Sexual Health class with them, just a scant few hours after the incident. The room was dark, save for the glow emanating from the school’s ancient television that sat in the front of the class; an antiquated film starring cutesy animated talking animals discussing “attraction” and _“urges_ ”.

_“Well! What's the matter with them?” “Why are they acting that way?”_

   He nearly gagged, catching the not so subtle way that Thom's fingers lingered on Delly's as he returned a fallen pencil to her desk. Could they be _more_ obvious? With his blinders off, he was hyper aware of every laugh, whisper or touch the two shared in the safety of the darkness.

_“Why, don't you know? They're twitterpated.”_

_“Twitterpated?”_

_“Yes. Nearly everybody gets twitterpated in the springtime. For example: You're walking along, minding your own business. You're looking neither to the left, nor to the right, when all of a sudden you run smack into a pretty face. Woo-woo! You begin to get weak in the knees. Your head's in a whirl. And then you feel light as a feather, and before you know it, you're walking on air. And then you know what? You're knocked for a loop, and you completely lose your head!”_

   Peeta tried in vain to ignore them, trying to work on the shadowing in a sketch he'd started working on earlier that day. It was pretty hard to do in the dark admittedly, but it kept his mind off of other things…. like cleavage spilling out of a lacy bra, a tongue running over a bottom lip and **_hickeys_**... He shuddered at the sudden recollection as a piece of paper hit the side of his head and bounced onto his lap.

**WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS.**

Peeta looked over at Delly with a look that screamed _“Seriously?”_ She countered with her best puppy dog eyes, clasped hands and a dramatically mouthed  _"Please?"_   .. Peeta groaned dramatically, letting his head fall back. Couldn’t she just let this whole thing just go away? Let it lay for a few days at least? He knew he was kidding himself with the mere suggestion of it. Delly Cartwright had never let anything just _lay_ for as long as he’d known her, and that was a very long time

**BAKERY. MY SHIFT ENDS AT 6. MEET ME IN BACK.**

He crumpled the note and threw it back at Delly’s head, nailing her in the temple. A small pleased smile spread his face at the squeak that escaped her mouth. It was a small, short lived victory as Delly and Thom promptly resumed their touchy antics a moment later. He stared at the clock desperate for bell to sound and save him. Luck was still not favoring him; the period did not end for another 15 minutes.

_“Gosh, that's awful.”_

_“Gee whiz. “Terrible!”_

_“ And that ain't all. It could happen to anyone, so you'd better be careful.”_

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

   Later on, as planned Peeta received an especially impatient knock that came from the back of the bakery. He rubbed some flour off on the bottom of his apron and headed towards the back of the store, the rapping becoming louder the closer he got.

“Geez Delly, calm down! I’m coming!” as he went to swing open the door he saw the reason for the urgency. Instead of just Delly, whom he’d expected, there was Thom as well crouching besides the dumpster like a criminal.

“You brought him?” he gestured toward Thom in a low urgent voice, “You _do_ know who my mother is right?”

“I said “ _we_ ” needed to talk Peeta. That includes Thom. He’s a part of this too.”

“Goddamn it Delphinium, you are **so** lucky that you’re my best friend. Come on in. We can go to the storage room. No one usual goes in there.” And so they followed behind him into the spacious room, full of bakery odds and ends; flour, oil, sugar,etc.. And they talked. Peeta asked questions and Delly answered them.

   From what Peeta had gathered from his very limited impression of Thom in school and now here; cross armed and leaned against a rack of spices, intently listening and nodding as Delly spoke, he was the strong, silent type, a brilliant foil for the ever talkative girl that spoke before him. Delly tended to babble when she got nervous and so Peeta found himself stopping her and slowing her down at various points in his interrogation. This made it harder to ascertain information but he did however, manage to get a few pertinent details out her ramblings: the two had been dating for a month, they communicated mostly via passed notes by way of their lockers or discreetly from desk to desk when in school, and no one but Peeta knew of their extracurricular meetings in the Eraser Room. Peeta had many more questions bubble up in his throat, but they were curious, prying questions that he felt he had no right to, no matter how much of a surrogate sister she was to him. So he satisfied himself with the facts and left them the luxury of keeping the finer details between the two of them.

"So, now what?" Thom’s voice sounded; deep and rich as it reverberated off the walls, a shock for both of the blondes as he’d chosen to remain silent up to this point. They considered his words as a silence fell over the room, each person glancing at the one next to them, as if a stare would provide the answer to the inquiry posed. _What was their next move?_ The question hung thick in the air like the stale, musty air of the storage room.Finally after some time Peeta spoke.

"Well, for starters, I think maybe you two should start giving me your notes. I think it will raise less suspicion if I act as a go be---"

"PEETA!! Where are you?! Peeta! Don't make me yell it again!" Peeta winced; Mother had been in an especially bad mood today, her rolling pin brandished and at the ready for extermination of any instance of insubordination and back talk, and it would not talk a genius to figure out that if she caught what she deemed a “dirty Seam rat” in her pantry it would make things catastrophically worse.

"Peeta!" she screeched again, footsteps getting closer to the door. He sprang into action as a plan unfolded quickly within the wrinkles of his brain. "Follow my lead!" He ordered in a quiet hush, “Thom, that big pallet of flour,” he gestured quickly to stack in the corner behind him, “Hide!”

“Dell?”

"Yeah Peet?"

“Don’t hate me for this…”

"Hate you for wh---" her sentence was cut short, her lips covered by Peeta's, which felt stiff and awkward against hers. There was nothing romantic or sensual about it, the whole thing just screamed _wrong._ A scream welled up in her throat before the doors flung open, startling him into letting her go.

   Peeta had never been more grateful to see his father staring back at him from the threshold, a surprised expression frozen on his face. He felt his heartbeat instantly even back out in his chest, no longer thundering inside his chest like a restless drummer. He would live another day. Then Delly slapped him. Hard. He knew he deserved it though.

 "What the _hell_?!" Delly spat the words out like venom, wiping her hand across her lips as hard as she could.

  His father looked on sympathetically as Peeta held his cheek, "Your mother is looking for you in the storefront, best not to keep her waiting son. You know how she gets..."

"Thanks Dad..." he stared at the floor as he exited the room, utterly embarassed and ashamed at what he'd just done. He hoped Thom would not want to pick a fight with him later. Hell, he hoped Delly wouldn't want to pick a fight with him later. She had a hell of a right hook.

   As he passed his father he paused and turned to Delly, “I’m sorry.” Delly nodded, not trusting herself to the power of speech. She was angry, confused but underneath it all she was grateful. He did what he had to to keep her secrets safe, even if it meant casting himself in a rather compromising light. Peeta had always been like that ever since she’d known him, and that was a very long time. She chanced a glance in Thom’s direction before training her eyes on the kindly old baker with a nervous smile.

   "Delphinium I think you best be getting home,” he pulled the  sweaty toque off his head in one clean motion, running a hand through his mussed hair with a sigh, “… out the back, the way you came.” Delly’s eyes widened at the implication of his words. He had seen her, had seen Thom, had seen them _together_. Yet he was playing dumb to it all and giving her a clean out. She was baffled, but once again grateful for the kindness of the Mellark men.

“It'd be best if Mrs. Mellark didn't see you I think." He smiled with a tiny wink, "Tell your Daddy I said hello, you hear?"

She nodded quickly, "I will Mr. Mellark....Thank you."

“Don’t mention it.” With that,he left, closing the door behind him softly. In the distance she could hear the rumble of pans crashing to the floor and a shrill scream ringing in the air as she fled out the back door as fast as her legs could take her, hand in hand with quiet Thom Sloane from the Seam.

 

/////////////////

 

      Mortified at how he’d acted the previous day, and nursing a bruised ribcage an unwelcome product earned from  the brunt of his mother’s wrath, Peeta decided to stay home from school. The soothing repetition of frosting cupcakes and the busying motion of the storefront was a welcome distraction from the awkwardness that would have awaited him at school. He thought his plan of action quite revolutionary until he saw Delly walk through the doors of the bakery at 10:00 am, well into school hours.

      “I saw you through the window. The shoe shop is not as busy as the bakery is today. I think I've seen you refill this case about a dozen times.” she explained, a small smile playing at the corners of her lips, itching to spread.“You stayed home too I see. Great minds think alike, I guess.” She chuckled, running a hand over the previously mentioned glass display case filled with sweets available.

“I guess…” he chuckled, “I’m sorry about...Well, you know…"

“Yeah I know,” she smiled, “I forgive you Peet. I understand why you did it.. I mean I wish you would have asked me first...but I understand." She met his repentful blue eyes seriously, "You're a good friend.”

Peeta shrugged it off, not sure how to respond. So he changed the subject.“So you and me, are we good again?”

“We’re good,” she confirmed, pointing at an iced sugar cookie and placing a few coins on the counter, "You may want to apologize to Thom however. He wasn't thrilled to see another guy smooching his girl...took almost an hour's worth of kisses to wipe away the memory."

 Peeta retrieved the cookie with tissue paper and handed it to her with a dirty look, collecting the coins and placing them in the register. "It was no picnic for me either Cartwright...Remember that!"

“Sure thing Mellark.” She took a bite out of her cookie, giving him a wave as she walked back toward the door. “See you tomorrow Peeta.”

 “See you tomorrow Dell.”

"Oh, and Peeta?" she stopped at the door, hand on the knob, as she took another bite of the cookie.

"Yeah?"

"If you ever kiss me again, I'll clock you. My right hook is still legendary. Remember _that_."

"As if you'd ever let me forget." He countered, waving goodbye to her as she opened the door and made her way back across the street to the Cobbler's storefront. As the silence overtook the bakery,  he could only wonder how on Earth he would face Thom at school tomorrow.

**Author's Note:**

> I really hoped you enjoy this fic as much I enjoyed writing it for you! It was a challenge,but an awesome prompt that I really loved, so thank you for the oppurtunity to step out of my comfort zone. 
> 
> I also want to give a SUPER DUPER RAINBOW & PUPPY filled shout out and a million thanks to my awesome Beta B78! I could have NEVER EVER done this without your help. You are the beta-ing wind beneath my writing wings.


End file.
